In telecommunications networks, global Internet protocol traffic is increasing at a rate of forty to fifty percent per year. In order to retain subscribers, it is desirable for service providers to keep monthly charges to subscribers relatively unchanged. Keeping charges constant with increasing traffic requires a reduction in expenses. For example, with a forty percent increase in traffic, service providers must reduce capital expenses and operational expenses by forty to fifty percent per gigabyte per second per year to achieve relatively constant pricing.
One possible method for reducing capital and operational expenses is to use software defined networking (SDN). SDN can be used to manage flows, control switches, control network access, and track user location and motion. SDN can also be used to efficiently utilize network components. For example, SDN may be used to power off unused equipment during non-peak periods to conserve energy.
Some SDN models may centralize the control of network elements, such as routers and switches, by removing intelligence from the routers and switches and placing that intelligence in a centralized location. One such effort to provide centralized control of routers and switches is the OpenFlow architecture described in the OpenFlow Switch Specification, Version 1.1.0, Feb. 28, 2011, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Conventionally, SDN architecture has not been used to control telecommunications network elements.
While some SDN controllers are being integrated with 3GPP core network systems, such integrations have usability and efficiency issues. In particular, these systems provide Internet protocol (IP) flow level control which is resource inefficient and is not scalable for a large and/or busy network. For example, the number of active IP flows in a public network, such as the Internet, may easily be in the millions or even billions for any given period of time. Since the number of IP flows utilized in a network can be very large, IP flow level control on controllers and switches involved in data plane connectivity is resource (e.g., memory) intensive and cost prohibitive. While some approaches may limit the amount of flow information stored in such switches, such as frequent updating the flow information to reduce the number of unused flow data entries that the switch must process through for each packet that hits the switch; such approaches still present scalability and resource efficiency issues.
Accordingly, a need exists for methods, systems, and computer readable media for session based SDN management.